History ReFreshed | Medieval World Of Craft And Intrigue

Earlier this month in Anaheim, Blizzard Entertainment held its annual
conference
(BlizCon) to
showcase upcoming releases by this originator of some of the most popular and
innovative
computer
games on the market. In honor of one of its signature brands, World of
Warcraft,
which
features
a
medieval-like fantasy landscape of warriors and weapons, we will look this time
at
books from
the
medieval world.

BOHEMIAN GOSPEL by Dana Chamblee Carpenter

The first, like the Warcraft game, includes
magic
and
fantasy.
BOHEMIAN
GOSPEL,
by
Dana Chamblee Carpenter, is the story of Mouse, an intelligent and clever girl
whose
unusual
healing
powers save the life of Ottaker, the Golden and Iron King, after he is wounded
by a
traitor’s
arrow.

Removed from her abbey home and taken back to the court at Prague as his
personal
healer, Mouse
is thrust into the ruthless intrigue of his 13th century court. As she tries
to
help
the king
uncover who
is plotting against him, Mouse finds herself drawn to her protector, applying
her
extraordinary
powers
to discover not only the traitor, but the shocking truth of who she was and who
she
will become.

POPE JOAN by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Our next selection, POPE JOAN by Donna Woolfolk Cross, tells the story
of a
woman who
may or may not have existed. Legend, or fact suppressed by the church?

Amid the violence and
poverty of the 9th century, young Joan receives an education forbidden to most
women.
She is
given
leave to accompany her brother to the school of the Bishop of Dorstadt, where
they
lodge with a
knight, Gerold, with whom she falls in love. When Viking raiders destroy the
village
and kill
her
brother, Joan dons his clothes and escapes to Fulda, where she presents herself
as
the
learned
Brother John Anglicus. Famed for her compassion for women and the poor,
through her
brilliance
as
a scholar and teacher, she is drawn to the heart of church power in Rome.
There, a
dangerous
mix of
passion and politics will see her elevated to the highest position in
Christendom,
even
as it
threatens
her life.

THE SHARP HOOK OF LOVE: A NOVEL OF HELOISE AND ABELARD by Sherry Jones

Our last two selections reinvent the lives of
two
real
historical
figures. THE
SHARP
HOOK OF
LOVE: A NOVEL OF HELOISE AND ABELARD by Sherry Jones retells the story of
the
tragic
romance between Heloise d’Argenteuil, a well-educated woman destined by her
family
to
become an
abbess, and the brilliant, charismatic monk who becomes her teacher, Pierre
Abelard.

Incorporating
excerpts from some of the recently-discovered love letters between them, Jones
weaves
the story
from the entrance of Heloise into the Notre Dame Cloister School, where the two
find
an
immediate
meeting of the minds. But intellectual attraction soon turns to passion of a
more
carnal sort,
drawing
them into one of history’s most famous forbidden love affairs. Will love, duty
or
ambition win
out?

A TRIPLE KNOT by Emma Campion

For our final story, we cross the pond back to
England
for Emma
Campion’s illuminating novel about legendary beauty Joan of Kent, A TRIPLE
KNOT.
Never
forgetting the cautionary tale of her father, executed half-brother of Edward
II,
who
lost the
war
against his wife Isabella and her lover Sir Roger Mortimer, Joan and her family
become
reluctant
wards of the new King Edward III.

With her royal blood, she is a great bargaining chip for a king
looking for alliances and money. Terrified of being sold off in marriage to a
man
she
despises,
she
persuades the much-older knight, Sir Thomas Holland, to marry her. Predictably
furious
at the
deception, the king declares the union invalid and marries her off to William
Montagu,
future
Earl
of
Salisbury. But through tumultuous times of war, plague and turmoil, Joan and
Thomas
remain true
to
their love for each other, even if the face of the determined courtship of the
Black
Prince
himself.

Ready to immerse yourself in a distant and fascinating world? Prepare to
embrace
the
newest
versions!

After twelve years as a vagabond Navy wife, an adventure that took her from
Virginia
Beach, VA,
to
Monterrey, CA, to Tunis, Tunisia to Oslo, Norway and back, Julia Justiss
followed her
husband
to his family's East Texas homeland. On a hill above a pond with a view of
pasture
land, they
built
an English Georgian-style home. Sitting at her desk there, if she ignores the
summer
heat, she
can
almost imagine herself in Jane Austen's Regency England.

In between teaching high school French and making jaunts to visit her three
children
(a
Seabee
in
Gulfport, MS, a clothing buyer in Houston and a mechanical engineer in Austin,
TX)
she
pursues
her
first love—writing historical fiction.

Dominic Ransleigh lost more than his arm in battle—he lost his reason for
living.
Returning to
his
family seat, he shuns all society. If only his beautiful, plainspoken tenant,
Theodora
Branwell,
wasn't so hard to ignore-

Since her fiancé's death on the battlefield, Theo's devoted herself to caring
for
soldiers'
orphans.
She's powerfully attracted to Dom, but knows all too well the consequences of
temptation. Is
Theo,
who's survived so much, brave enough to reveal her secret to her handsome,
wounded
neighbor?

Comments

The books that you chose sound like interesting reads, and I've put them on my TBR list, as well as your latest book!! I love reading any type of Historical books. Not only do you learn facts that you didn't know, but you read a great book in the process!! Congratulations on your latest book, which I'm sure is going to do well!!(Peggy Roberson 10:13am November 20, 2015)

Thanks, Peggy! I hope you find some new keepers among this month's offering!(Julia Justiss 4:11pm November 20, 2015)